Dutch GP: Lewis Hamilton planning to put Max Verstappen under ‘massive pressure’ with split strategy

The Mercedes team which includes legendary racer Lewis Hamilton has already started preparing a strategy for race day at Zandvoort, to beat Max Verstappen who took pole for the first Dutch Grand Prix since 1985. Verstappen took pole with a lap just 0.038s quicker than Hamilton’s best. Interestingly, the Red Bull driver is upfront alone with teammate Sergio Perez placed 16th. Hamilton enjoys an advantage in this regard with teammate Valterri Bottas immediately behind him in third. This is a benefit that the British racer and team boss Toto Wolff are looking to exploit on Sunday.

“Not a track that you can particularly overtake”

“No doubt it’s going to be tough tomorrow. I think Max and his team were quicker than us on the long run, but it’s not a track that you can particularly overtake on so it’s going to be [about] strategy tomorrow and how you can utilise the tyres. The start will be fun,” said Hamilton after qualifying.

The British racer was very pleased to finish close to Verstappen, considering the fact that the Dutchman finished FP3 a full half-second clear of Mercedes. He was even further ahead at points during qualifying.

“The [final Q3] lap… particularly the second and third sector, was really on the edge. There wasn’t any road left. So I was really, really happy with it. It’s great we were able to get that close because obviously they pulled quite far ahead at one point pace-wise. But I still think if we had another session we’d all go quicker and I think there’s more time to find,” stated Hamilton.

Wolff has admitted to enjoying a desire to split Hamilton and Bottas’ strategies to put Verstappen under maximum pressure on race day.

“I think we need to be satisfied with where we ended up. Lewis missed out a lot yesterday with running [after an FP2 power unit issue] and at the end he put one lap together and we have P2, P3, that’s a good starting point,” he said.

“I think if we are able to have the same pace in the race, and it’s going to be about survival on the one-stop, Max needs to make a decision: is he going for a one-stop or is he going for a two-stop? And I think we can play both strategies tomorrow, so you have two cars that can actually go totally different. Certainly, we’ll be pitting one, undercutting and massive pressure, leaving the other out and then finishing one and two,” added Wolff.

“Opens up all the opportunities for teamwork”

Bottas admitted that he did not enjoy the car for pole, but was willing to play the team game on Sunday.

“The first run in Q3 was good, I was happy with the lap. Felt like I got pretty much everything out of the package. The second lap was going well until Turn 11. I braked a bit too late, collected a bit of gravel in Turn 12. I think I got a bit too greedy towards the end of the lap but I think pole was just a little bit out of reach for me today. But it’s good to be in the top three and it opens up all the opportunities for teamwork,” he stated.